


when the skies and the grounds were one

by eggboyksoo



Series: the legends (we are the future) [2]
Category: EXO (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Music Video: Lucky One (EXO), Music Video: Overdose (EXO), Past Experimentation, Supernatural Elements, based off of early obsession teasers, mentions of krislutao, past imprisonment and capture, past violence and torture, superm members play more of a cameo role
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 11:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21319294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggboyksoo/pseuds/eggboyksoo
Summary: "If Doh Kyungsoo didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. Not even on the point of death."Kyungsoo saves himself before they can get their rescue mission ready. Baekhyun questions if the man in the hospital bed really is Kyungsoo.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O
Series: the legends (we are the future) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536904
Comments: 9
Kudos: 83





	when the skies and the grounds were one

**Author's Note:**

> hello. so.... i am Back.
> 
> for everyone who read the first part of this series and wished for more, thank you so much! i had some ideas, but your support and your interest helped me write this next instalment. i'll be continuing this as a series rather than a single fic, mostly because my ideas may be disjointed and the different characters and povs will have different people and relationships to focus on. hopefully this provides some more info about the exos and what it means to be a Guardian! i hope you enjoy :)

Baekhyun knows Kyungsoo better than anyone.

He’s not the only one to know Kyungsoo well; there are others. Kyungsoo trusts his actor friends with as much of his life as he’s allowed to tell him. Although the Guardian part is critical to understanding him, they are privy to the parts of life Kyungsoo chooses for himself. Amongst the Guardians, though, Kyungsoo spends a lot of time with Chanyeol and Minseok. He has a special bond with Jongin and Sehun, too, with the maknaes adoring the ground their hyung walks on. It’s a small, exclusive list, the number of people Kyungsoo trusts.

But Baekhyun is privy to things the others aren’t. He’s the only one who’s seen all the bits and pieces.

He knows Kyungsoo the force-wielder, knows the actor whom he hides behind, knows the Kyungsoo who wants to live out the rest of his days on the farm in relative obscurity. He knows Kyungsoo as more than a colleague or a friend—and while Kyungsoo loves Jongin and Sehun just as much as they love him, Kyungsoo has always done his best to shield them from the worst of things, even though they’d already seen so much.

Baekhyun knows how Kyungsoo’s lips part when he sleeps; knows that Kyungsoo likes his showers hot, waiting twenty seconds after he’s moved the tap all the way to the hottest setting so the water’s scalding by the time he gets in; knows that Kyungsoo likes when Baekhyun buys those soy candles with rose petals pressed into the wax; knows how Kyungsoo grins, almost feral, as he unleashes the full extent of his power.

This is why, when Jongin appears in his living room, while Baekhyun’s in the middle of a round of PUBG, eyes bright and on the verge of tears, and says, “Mark called me—Kyungsoo-hyung’s been captured in Neo City, _hyung_, he escaped—” Baekhyun already knows: this isn’t _his _Kyungsoo.

If Doh Kyungsoo didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. Not even on the point of death.

Jongin reaches for his hand. Baekhyun shuts his laptop, closing the distance anyway.

* * *

The NCTU infirmary is unfamiliar to him—he’s a celebrity, not a member of the military, after all—but the familiar pull in his gut tugs him along the unfamiliar corridors. He can feel the shock radiating down the line; Mark, probably, considering he was the one who found Kyungsoo, or whoever this person was. Jongin vibrates next to him, clearly wanting to follow the feeling directly into Kyungsoo’s rooms, but even the master of teleportation has to follow the rules sometimes.

Mark and Ten meet them at a nondescript door.

“Taeyong-hyung and Lucas are inside,” Mark explains, looking between both him and Jongin, gauging their reactions. “He was really beat up—we have doctors on him, but those two are the best with medicine and triage, so they promised to keep an eye on him while we waited for you to arrive.”

Jongin takes a step forward, and Ten pushes down on the door handle. Baekhyun keeps eye contact with Mark and asks, “Have you called the other Guardians?”

“We thought that we’d leave it up to you,” Ten says.

Good, Baekhyun thinks. “Does Taemin know yet?”

Mark shakes his head. “We put the call out to you first, figured you’d want to be here first. Taemin-hyung’s in Japan—”

“Jongin-ah,” Baekhyun says, just as Ten opens the door a fraction, Jongin already halfway inside. “You need to go get Taemin.”

Jongin turns back, eyes hard. “Taemin can fly. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion.”

“Baekhyun-hyung—” Ten starts, but Baekhyun is firm.

“_Jongin_.” He doesn’t know how to make the younger man understand just how serious this is. They need Taemin here—Taemin, the only person the Heart wants to talk to.

If the Heart says that the man in this hospital bed is Doh Kyungsoo, he will throw all caution to the wind, and he will call the others and he will be one of the happiest to have him back. But he’s not so sure now, and he’s not sure how to convey this to Jongin without giving the others more Guardian knowledge they’re not supposed to have. Not even Jongin knows about the clones yet.

“Fine,” Jongin says, jaw tensing. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“I’ll wait for you here, Kai-hyung,” Mark promises.“To help you orientate yourself.”

Baekhyun waits until Jongin disappears with a loud _crack_, before heading inside himself.

Taeyong moves gracefully through the room, collecting different instruments and medication onto a small table by the bed. Lucas stands off to the side, flipping lazily through a chart. They rattle off medical jargon at each other, barely noticing that Baekhyun’s there until he’s finally made his way to the bedside, finally gaining the courage to look at the person in the bed.

It _looks_ like Kyungsoo, despite the gauze and the bandages. There were the heart-shaped lips, parted as he slept, the usual frown on Kyungsoo’s face relaxed. His hair, which had been shaved off completely in the vision the Heart had given them, has grown out a little. He notes a few uneven patches. Baekhyun itches to hold his hand, but tells himself to be patient. _Not yet_. He doesn’t know what to expect.

“Baekhyun-hyung!” Taeyong says, surprised, putting down a syringe. “Where’s Kai-hyung?”

“Getting Taemin,” Baekhyun replies, looking over at Kyungsoo’s face again.

“I would’ve thought you’d call the Guardians first,” Lucas says, looking up from his chart.

“I just—I needed to check something,” Baekhyun says. “They’ll be back soon.”

He hears a muffled _crack_ in the distance and a quiet murmur, before Jongin storms into the room, striding over to Baekhyun’s side with fire with his eyes. He falters, though, the moment he takes in the figure in the bed. Jongin’s lip twitches, and he grips onto the railing of the bed.

Taemin and Mark enter together, Taemin’s hair dishevelled, Mark watching Jongin with wide eyes.

“Hyung,” Jongin says, quietly, and it’s hard for Baekhyun to hear it. He knows that Jongin’s missed his favourite hyung, but it’s hard to hear their baby so hurt. “Hyung—”

Jongin reaches out for Kyungsoo’s hand, sitting innocently over the sheets, but Baekhyun grips his wrist instead. Jongin lets out a pained little cry, before whipping his head angrily over at Baekhyun. “Hyung, what the _hell_ is wrong with you—”

“Taemin,” Baekhyun says, turning away from Jongin, and the hurt he’s carrying. He can’t be emotional. Not right now. He thinks of Junmyeon, and how he puts safety and logic before all else, and he stares at Taemin’s wide eyes, and opens his mind, hoping the telepath sees his intent. “Taemin, is it safe? Is this Kyungsoo?”

Taemin closes his eyes, trembling for a few, infinitely long moments. Baekhyun holds Jongin’s wrist tighter, despite his protests. When Taemin opens his eyes, Baekhyun braces himself for the worst.

“The Heart—the Heart said something about there only being one Kyungsoo.” Taemin looks confused, but the tension in Baekhyun’s body begins to seep out of him, in relief. “He’s Force—they couldn’t bend or break him. Couldn’t make him something he wasn’t. There’s never been another Kyungsoo, he’s just a really good actor.”

“What does that mean?” Mark asks.

“He’s the one we’ve been looking for.” Taemin’s eyes are earnest.

Baekhyun lets go of Jongin’s wrist, but Jongin’s already holding Kyungsoo’s hand, mumbling “_Hyung_,” under his breath. Baekhyun sways in one spot, overwhelmed, _relieved_. It’s Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo got himself out of that hell that they’d seen in the desert, not too long ago, and he’s safe. Not a clone, not a threat.

He’s back.

“Hyung,” Lucas says, placing his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders. “Hyung, are you okay? Breathe for me.”

Baekhyun tries, but he’s trembling so hard that he’s not sure he’s successful at it. When he manages a few deep breaths, he looks up at Lucas, noticing that the others are shooting him concerned looks—Jongin included, still clinging onto Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I need to call the others,” he says, looking at Kyungsoo and then at Jongin. “I think some explanations are in order.”

* * *

It’s an unspoken rule, but they do their best to not bring up what happened before The Lab.

His early years are all a jumbled mess. He tries his best not to dwell on them, but sometimes it’s hard to keep them back.

He remembers being apart from the others, being brought together, reuniting and feeling like the mission was _possible_, only to be captured and forced apart again, walking the earth knowing there was no one else to help you. He remembers waking up in a grey maze he still doesn’t know how he escaped, doesn’t know how he kept his mind; remembers the streets of Lyon, and how he struggled to walk the streets without checking over his shoulder every five seconds. He remembers reuniting with his brothers, guided by the moon—and then he remembers waking up chained to a bed, remembers watching the strange chemicals being added to his IV drip, the way Jongdae and Sehun were slumped next to him—

He never lets himself remember past that. Baekhyun still doesn’t know how long they’d been in The Lab for. He’d never known why they had kept them, why they were being experimented on. Baekhyun thought the only benefit of having them was having access to the Tree of Life. Not once had any of the researchers or scientists asked how to get to it. 

All that he knew was as soon as they escaped they rented a small apartment through Airbnb that was too small for the nine of them, but too big, at the same time, all of them aware of the others who were no longer with them. He remembers sitting around the coffee table at two am, all of them sitting in clothes they’d hastily ordered online that morning, Chanyeol having burnt their lab clothes in a fire in the bathtub. Baekhyun had a hand around Sehun’s waist as they all promised that they would move forward from this, and they’d never let themselves get captured again.

“We need to make ourselves visible,” Minseok replied, his fingers coated with a layer of frost, the way they always were when he was nervous. His hands had been cold since they’d escaped. “It might not stop them from doing anything to us, but hiding doesn’t change anything. If people know us, they’ll notice that we’re missing. It might make them think twice.”

“Humans can’t do much against the Red Force,” Chanyeol pointed out. “Even if we’re taken, they’re probably not gonna figure out what happened to us. Why would they be afraid?”

“Do you have any other options?” Minseok asked.

Chanyeol didn’t. None of them did. And considering that all their other plans had failed, it was worth a shot. 

“It’s a good thing we’re all talented,” Junmyeon said, a rare smile on his face. “The connections that we have help matters, too.”

After the meeting was over and Junmyeon had put out Chanyeol’s fire, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo sat crossed-legged on one of the spare beds, too keyed up to sleep.

“What are you thinking of doing, Kyungja?” Baekhyun had asked, grinning. “You’re so talented, you could be anything you wanted, you know.”

Kyungsoo shook his head, bad at taking compliments like always. “I think I would’ve liked to be a chef,” he said. “Just a good chef. But I’d have to go to to culinary school, and I don’t think it’s as high-profile as the hyungs want.”

“You could sing.”

“Nah,” Kyungsoo said easily. “I mean—that’s what you and Jongdae are doing, right?”

Kyungsoo had been right, of course; there was really no other path that Baekhyun would consider, and Jongdae’s voice was too beautiful to be kept away, especially if they were going to be living like this. But Baekhyun liked Kyungsoo’s unique tone, and he didn’t think—

“Perhaps I’ll be an actor,” Kyungsoo mused. “I’d always wanted to be an actor, growing up. Like in the dramas.”

Baekhyun had never seen Kyungsoo act unless they were in danger—for someone whose life was a half-truth at best, Kyungsoo hated lying—but he knew in his gut that he’d succeed. Maybe he’d win some awards, who knew.

“You’ll do great,” Baekhyun said, patting his shoulder. “I know it.”

Kyungsoo smiled. “You too.” He’d looked away then, staring at the radiator in the corner of the room. “I think pretending is going to really help us, you know.”

“With the Red Force?”

“No, just—” Kyungsoo sighed. “With what happened at The Lab. And… Tao. Luhan-hyung. Kris-hyung.” His voice broke a little, but Baekhyun pretended he hadn’t heard.

“Fake it ‘til you make it?” Baekhyun asked.

“Something like that.”

“Maybe.” Baekhyun burrowed his head into the crook of Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “It would be nice.”

* * *

Baekhyun informs all of the others. As expected, he only get four responses back. They all promise to be in Neo City by morning, all travelling from different parts of the world.

Mark received an encrypted message from a Major M. Kim that says, _Send them all my love and best wishes_. Chinese superstar Zhang Yixing posts a picture of a pretty, blooming flower on Weibo. When Baekhyun runs the accompanying caption under a translator, it talks about how there is beauty in the world, and how he is glad he is to be a witness to it.

Baekhyun understands. The others will, too.

Jongin falls asleep a few hours after they arrive, the toll of the long-distance teleportation finally catching up to him. Taeyong arranges for a cot to be brought to the room, and Lucas helps Baekhyun tuck him in.

“It’s weird,” Lucas says, staring at Jongin with a frown. “I know that like, Mark and I are the scary ones, because we’re snipers and assassins and stuff, but—” he pauses, frowning. “It was weird to see Kai-hyung so… sad.”

“He’s just a kid,” Baekhyun says. Weren’t they all? “He’s always been Kyungsoo’s baby, too. Just wait until Sehun gets here.”

Lucas nods, and then he looks at Baekhyun. “I’m glad the others are coming,” he says. “I know you’ve missed Kyungsoo-hyung a lot, but you’ve put it aside to get everything in order.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “It’s what leaders do.” Or at least, it’s what Junmyeon would do, and Baekhyun still doesn’t really know how to be the oldest, and how to keep things in order. He’s only trying to learn from the best.

“Take care of yourself, hyung,” Lucas says. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

* * *

He finally sits with Kyungsoo when everything falls quiet.

The others have called it a night, and Jongin has finally stopped snuffling in his sleep. There’s a little orb of light of Baekhyun’s making hovering over Kyungsoo’s bed—it’s not too harsh, not like the rest of the infirmary lights.

Baekhyun kisses the top of Kyungsoo’s head, murmuring, “This is probably the most dramatic thing you’ve ever pulled, Kyungja,” before reaching for his hand and holding it lightly. Not wanting to cause any discomfort.

He’s only been sitting there for five minutes when Kyungsoo’s eyelids flutter in the dim light, dark eyes boring into him. “Baekhyunnie.”

Baekhyun should be calling a doctor—should at least be calling Taeyong—but he doesn’t. He just grins. “Hey there.”

“How’d you find me already?” Kyungsoo says. His voice is croaky; Baekhyun reaches over to get him a cup of water.

“Magic.” He pushes the straw up to Kyungsoo’s lips, not allowing him to ask more questions until he’s had some water. Kyungsoo takes a few sips before he pushes back, eyebrows furrowed.

“Neo City’s pretty far,” Kyungsoo says, “And you don’t have a base here.”

“There’s a lot that’s happened since you’ve been gone,” Baekhyun says, reaching for his hand again. “It’s… well, it’s a pretty long story. And Jongin won’t forgive me if I don’t let him tell some of it.”

“Jonginnie?” Kyungsoo’s eyes dart around, slowly moving his head. He stills when he sees Jongin’s cot, pulled right up to Kyungsoo’s bed, much like a baby’s cot would be when they were brought in to see their mother.

“Do you want me to wake him?”

“Not yet.” Kyungsoo turns back around, facing Baekhyun again. “I don’t know how long I’m gonna stay awake.”

“The others will be here tomorrow,” Baekhyun assures him, squeezing Kyungsoo’s hand. It’s hard to believe he’s able to do that now, after not being able to for so long. “Well—not Minseok-hyung or Yixing-hyung. Just us seven. And… maybe some of my friends.”

“Friends? Consider me shocked,” Kyungsoo says, eyes fluttering closed.

“You’re mean. But I do have friends now! Seriously.”

“Seems a lot has changed since I was gone.” Kyungsoo squeezes Baekhyun’s hand tightly. “Baekhyun… I have a lot I need to say to you and the others. A lot of explaining—about the clones... what I’ve seen.”

Baekhyun thinks about what the Heart had showed them in the desert, at the squalor they had kept Kyungsoo in, at the way Kyungsoo was almost unrecognisable underneath all the blood, except for his heart-shaped lips. They had been planning for a rescue mission, and Baekhyun would have left weeks ago if the Heart hadn’t warned them to wait for the right time. In typical Kyungsoo fashion, he’d ruined all their best laid plans and saved himself.

“We were coming to get you,” Baekhyun says.

“It’s good you didn’t,” Kyungsoo replies. “I’ll explain later. Tired.”

“We have a lot to talk about tomorrow.”

“I know.” Kyungsoo sighs. “I’m dying to hear how your antisocial ass made friends.”

Kyungsoo’s breathing begins to even out as he falls asleep again. Baekhyun hears himself chuckling, feels the tears beginning to fall. He’s never been glad to be more wrong—because Doh Kyungsoo is _alive_, breathing and sleeping and insulting him while recovering from serious injuries. They found him because he wanted to be found, to protect them all from rescuing him.

“I have _five_ new friends,” Baekhyun says, despite knowing Kyungsoo can’t hear him anyway. “And maybe an assassin son. You’ll love ‘em.”

**Author's Note:**

> honestly, i was really nervous to post this--i love baeksoo, but i've never posted a baeksoo fic before. i know their relationship was pretty subtle, but i hope you enjoyed it anyway. i'm also hoping that you enjoyed learning more about the Guardians, although i'm sure there must be more questions!
> 
> i'm not sure what to write next but we'll get a different perspective next time, and hopefully more understanding of this universe works. :) thank you in advance for any and all feedback!
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/eggboyksoo)  
[cc](http://curiouscat.me/eggboyksoo)


End file.
